EMRE’S TALE
YULE PART IV
Emre had the best sleep he’d had in years and when he arose from his deep slumber on the final Yule morning of December the 23rd, he looked forward to beholding his beloved Avery. With his eyes shut, he recalled the events of the previous night that had far surpassed his expectations.
Not only had his Avery given into their shared passion for each other but had seen to his satisfaction in every way. He smiled turning to where she had lain next to him eager to see her gorgeous sea-weed green eyes and caress her soaked wine- red colored hair and to kiss her beautiful bow-shaped lips with his undying, loving passion for her but when he opened his eyes, the red-haired femme fatale of his dreams was not there.
He hastily got out of bed then, confusedly thinking that perhaps she had gotten an early start and was simply engaged in one task or another. He checked the shower but she was not there and when he returned to the room, he noticed that her clothes were not there either, meaning she had gotten dressed and hastily retreated.
Still holding onto hope, the Prince of Medula rushed out of the room and searched high and low for his beloved before he finally admitted to himself that Avery had done what she always did… ran away from him. Emre was furious and felt that her retreat after something so deeply passionate had happened between them was the last straw. He had been patient with her but he had had enough of her bad behavior and he would not stand for it a moment longer.
The Prince rushed back to his room to prepare for his day and then rushed out the door, determined to get to Avery. As he rushed out of the Dyson Sphere Structure that housed him and his family, he begun opening a portal to Timeline Delta 1, relying on previous knowledge of its location that he had held as Emre D1 and immediately rushing towards it until he was halted by Protector Leal.
“Don’t try to get in my way, Protector Leal. I swear upon my life, Avery shall not escape me a moment longer,” Emre declared boldly.
“You’re going after her in D1?” Protector Leal asked him. Emre simply nodded.
“I’m coming with you too. I need to find Aurora,”
“But Leal-”
“Don’t give me grief over my mental health. I know, I’m messed up, I’m healing or whatever but I need to see her. I need to be with her and your Avery… Well, she is just like her… She won’t let me see my Aurora. I need to be with my charge, Prince Emre. Please, don’t be a hindrance to that,”
Prince Emre nodded allowing Protector Grayson to tag along with him. The Portal led them to the gates of the futuristic Surburban Neighborhood that Avery called home. Emre was taken aback by how familiar it felt. He remembered the beloved home he had spent with Avery square brick for square brick. He hesitated, admiring the home from a distance.
“Is this it? Is this where she lives?” Protector Grayson asked him.
Emre simply nodded.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes… I am it’s just… This was my home for so long… This was… This is home,”
Protector Grayson nodded and placed his arms firmly on Prince Emre’s shoulders.
“You’re right. This is your home. Let’s go get ’em,”
Emre nodded inputting the code and unraveling the Magical Shields preventing unauthorized access.However, he noted that Avery had updated some of the Protections of the home and he encountered new magic he had yet to to be acquainted with.
Meanwhile, inside the home, Avery urged her mother to escape with her magical protections forewarning her of their unwelcome guests.
“Are you sure that Leal is here too?”
Avery nodded and sighed.
“I shouldn’t have slept with him, mom. Now he thinks I want things to get back to the way they were with us but I just… I couldn’t help myself, mom. I love him… I always have… I just… I can’t be with him now… I can’t go through that grief again… I won’t let Blaize go through that again,” she said distressed.
Aurora held Avery’s face in her palms and looked deep into her eyes,”You don’t have to be with him if you don’t want to. I think you have to face him and tell him that. Stand your ground. Don’t let him distract you from achieving your goals. Go out there and face him,”
“How can I, mom? I’m scared,”
“I’ll be right beside you. I won’t abandon you. I swear,” Aurora said.
“Really? You-you’ll stay with me?”
Aurora smiled. “Always,” she said reassuringly before hugging her. Avery took a deep breath before taking her mother’s hand and portal-ling outside to face Emre and her father.
“Avery, we need to talk,” Emre said firmly.
“I know what you’re going to say, Emre and no matter how great your speech is, the answer is the same. No. No, you can’t be with me. No, you can’t see Blaize. No, I don’t want a life with you. My son and I are perfectly happy just the way we are. I cannot allow you to complicate his life. What happened last night… it was great… it was… so beautiful but it won’t ever happen again so please… please just go away,”
“I have been patient with you, Avery and what you’re saying is very unfair to me. Did you really expect me to just agree to what you’re saying unconditionally, as if I don’t have a right to see my own son? Do you think I can just forget about you, Avery? You are the love of my life, my fiancee and I have every intention to marry you as soon as possible. I want to see my son… No, I demand to see him right this instant,”
“Over my dead body!” Avery proclaimed standing her ground.
Emre pushed past her and entered what was once his home, headed straight for his son’s room but the latter was nowhere to be seen. He searched for his son high and low to no avail.
“Where is he, Avery?” he barked at her.
“I will never tell. I will not subject my son to that… that kind of pain ever again. Please stop being so selfish,”
“You’re the selfish one, Avery Alison! I long to see my son and you- you have been a hindrance to that! How- how dare you? I have every right to see him,”
“We were the ones to suffer and grieve you. You have no idea how that felt; if you did, you’d see your selfishness. I don’t care if you make me out to be the villain. You’re not going to hurt my son like that,”
“I can’t imagine the pain you went through when I died but you cannot punish me for it either. I died fighting for the greater good as you would have. Asking me to stay away from him is punishment. Can’t you see that? That boy needs his father. He has needed me all his life and your keeping us apart is more harmful than good. Don’t you think he deserves a second chance at having a father and whole family?”
“We have had this-”
“I know we’ve gone through this before… Nonetheless, I demand to see my son! You will take me to him right this second,”
“I am not your subject, Prince Emre. Return to your timeline and live the life you were always meant to have,”
“I will not forget about my son! I demand to see him! I will not ask you again!”
“No!” Avery proclaimed firmly.
“If you do not allow me to see Blaize, then know this, Avery Alison, you shall be my enemy and I will do everything in my power to find him- move the Heavens and Earth itself if I must,”
“So be it, Prince Emre,”
Emre shook his head and then stormed away and Avery stormed away too leaving her parents by themselves.
“I need to go to her,” Aurora explained.
“No, you need to come home with me and care for your own daughter,” Leal interjected.
Aurora sighed. “I know my priorities, Leal. I don’t want to fight with you,”
“I don’t want to fight either. Come with me,”
“No,”
“No?”
“No,” she repeated. Leal went to her and grabbed her by the hand. When he did that, the unexpected happened…
Not only did Leal have flashbacks of the fateful night that had changed his fate forever, he remembered about meeting his charge for the first time, of fighting their evil doppelgangers, of the moment he pledged allegiance to her and the first time she had told him she loved him.
He recoiled and tried to sort out the conflicting memories.
“Leal, are you okay?” Aurora asked him worriedly.
At that moment without hesitation, he pulled her closer to himself in a bone-crushing hug and broke down in tears, burying his face in her hair.
“Leal, what’s wrong? Are you in pain?”
“I’m so sorry, Aurora. I have failed you. I have failed our daughter, I have failed the Protectors’ Agency… I have failed…”
“Leal-”
“That’s why you keep leaving right? You can’t stand to look at me, your failure of a Protector. I have been nothing but a burden to you ever since we met and I continue to be that… a burden. I understand why you hesitate in wanting to be with me. But I swear to you on Avery’s life, I am going to get stronger and I… I will be worthy of you someday soon. Please, please… Don’t take this out on our Avery. Please come home,”
“Leal-” she said compassionately.
“Do not pity me! I- I don’t want that. I need you to look at me like… like I am a hero, not a burden. Aurora, I want you to look at me someday like I am a partner, not a burden to string along throughout time with, like someone you could give your heart to wholly and unconditionally,”
“Leal, my decision to stay away from you is selfish and it’s more- it’s more out of fear than anything. You are more than I deserve and I- I just… I can’t lose you too. I lost dad and then I lost mom to mental illness… I just… I can’t… Besides, I’m an Alison witch and you… you don’t deserve the baggage that comes with my name,”
“You’re just saying that to turn me down but I will prove you wrong. I will get stronger and I- I will be the Protector you deserve, please don’t vest your interests elsewhere,” he said before suddenly standing up and rushing away without Aurora knowing where he was going. After a while, she stood up and joined her daughter in her home.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Yule is upon us… Dive back into the festivities by reading the previous entries in this special series…
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